Shovels typically serve one of two purposes, digging or scooping/pushing. A traditional garden shovel, i.e. a digging shovel, has a narrow pointed blade whereas a traditional snow shovel, i.e. a scooping/pushing shovel, has a wide, arcuate blade with a flat leading edge. Generally, folding shovels have been constructed as digging shovels having a narrow pointed blade. These devices typically include a pole-like handle constructed of a plurality of collapsible links and/or of a plurality of telescoping members. It is noted that shovels having only a telescoping handle are typically describes as “collapsible” rather than “folding.” Foldable, or collapsible, scooping/pushing shovels exist as well and typically include a telescoping handle.
Folding/collapsing shovels are structured to occupy a limited space in their unexpanded configuration. Foldable digging shovels are typically used by soldiers and campers. Folding/collapsing scooping/pushing shovels are typically stored in vehicles for emergency use. Because of the purpose/intended use of such shovels, the ability to be reduced to as small as possible is an important feature of folding shovels. Collapsing scooping/pushing shovels, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D543,426 and 7,571,945 suffer from the disadvantage of having the handle member extend well beyond the perimeter of the blade. This disadvantage is not seen, or is not as pronounced, in folding digging shovels, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. D551, 524. Preferably, a scooping/pushing shovel includes an arcuate blade as this shape is better adapted for moving snow. An arcuate blade, however, increases the space required for storage of the shovel in the unexpanded configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 7,571,945 addresses this issue by providing an arcuate handle/shaft that is stored over the arcuate blade. In the expanded configuration, the entire shovel, i.e. the blade and handle, have an arcuate shape that is not conducive to pushing snow.
A further disadvantage of telescoping handles is that the handle is in a fixed relationship (angle) to the blade. As such, the shovel is not optimized for either pushing or scooping. Further, telescoping handles typically include an expensive/complicated locking mechanism that is subject to degradation from debris becoming lodged therein. This is less of a problem with simple hinged folding shovels.